Editor’s desk

I found it stunning when I recently read that more than a half million people had taken advantage of new Medicare coverage that pays for end-of-life discussions with their doctors. And there was hardly a peep about it.

Make no mistake: Long-term care providers will take a victory wherever they can, and the Trump administration's move to rescind the Obama administration's ban on pre-dispute arbitration agreements is a win with a capital "W."

As a believer in starting the day bright and early, I often hit the McKnight's office by 7:30 a.m. That's why I was glad to see that one of the 20 tips from Richard Moran's "The Thing About Work: Showing Up and Other Important Matters" (Routledge, $22.95) includes DO get up and get going early.

I have to admit it: My love for the game of golf has waned lately. My fascination with it started as a young boy, watching my father pick up the game in middle age after successful athletic runs with football, track, softball and other activities.

Politics truly can make strange bedfellows. A great illustration of this could be the many nursing home operators who might think they don't like President-elect Donald Trump but really could end up loving him.

By the time you're reading this, the nation could have a much better idea who will be slinging mud at one another this fall for the top office in the nation. One way or another, it hasn't been looking good for long-term care interests. Unless I get my way.

It would be reasonable to think that a storm that caused dozens of deaths and the shutdown of federal government offices is a terrible event. But you would be only half right: A late-January blizzard in the mid-Atlantic states and its extreme conditions presented a prime opportunity to show the dedication of long-term care professionals.

The General Accountability Office typically features excellent researchers and writers. But it seems they might have "buried the lead," as we say in the journalism business, with their latest study concerning nursing homes.

Best-selling author Daniel Pink laid it on the line at the recent LeadingAge annual meeting to vividly illustrate why simple "if-then" reward scenarios — which are suitable for basic tasks — won't cut it in long-term care.

With the pending retirement of Larry Minnix as president and CEO of LeadingAge, I don't know whether to praise him or be fearful. I've always told him that he's such a good writer, he could take any journalist's job any time he wanted.

The lessons keep flowing from the political debacle that has been Sarah Palin's political career. You'll recall it was Palin who launched the irresponsible phrase "death panels" into the stratosphere back in 2009, a time when conservatives and liberals were battling over the very life of the Affordable Care Act.

Growing up, we had a saying when we wanted to cross a busy street but couldn't catch a break from drivers. "C'mon," one of us would gamely yell, while pulling the others onto the roadway, "there's safety in numbers!" OK, so I still do it on occasion and sometimes we shout, "There's strength in numbers!"

There is a memorable scene in the movie "Forrest Gump" when Lt. Dan chews out the well-intentioned title soldier for saluting him while the enemy is likely watching. The implication is that if you want to strike a crushing blow to something, you take out its leader.

Don't let anyone tell you that long-term care operators don't know how to read between the lines. They might not have known to fear a McKnight's Daily Update item before it appeared Sept. 8. But it quickly and definitely earned their attention — and apprehension.

With another summer of huge movies nearly behind us, it's a good time for providers to exhale in relief. Or wonder anxiously if they have been on camera themselves. Especially if Mike DeWine would be the film's producer.

As spring blends into summer, some nursing home operators are going to start feeling more heat. The federal government is moving to reclaim some form of "normalcy" after sequestration cuts lopped funding for many things, including its "very bad boys" list.

Hidden gems are often the best kind. They surprise us and keep us hopeful and optimistic for the future. This is how I feel about McKnight's Technology Awards, the third annual version of which is being sponsored by Tena and started accepting entries this month.

When we at McKnight's host a special roundtable discussion, I look forward to getting to know the esteemed participants. Captains of the profession, they typically have evolved from nurses, business managers and doctors into C-suite inhabitants — extremely observant top executives, in fact.

Sometimes long-term care providers struggle to find meaning in the signs that are strewn in their path. Whether it's legalese, regulatory gobbledy-gook or some form of bureaucracy, uncertain messages confront providers seemingly every day.

When you complain about bizarre government conditions or regulations, as columnists are wont to do, you usually have to assume you're just whispering into a stiff wind. But now comes word that no less than the Office of Inspector General of your Department of Health and Human Services is jumping on the bandwagon to change the hospital "observation stay" madness.

Every enterprise needs worker bees. Clearly, if the work is going to get done, those on the frontline — and elsewhere — must soldier on. But if an enterprise — be it a company, industry or other entity — is going to survive into the future, it also needs a visionary. Without forward-looking inspiration, any enterprise will surely fade, just as a houseplant will shrivel without mindful tending.